FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[Turbo]

A little trick some dentists use to make spiffy presentations of their appliances and dentures is to place the object on a pristine mirror (no scratches or dust) with a featureless reflection of the ceiling above. The photo is then taken with a flash, rendering the backdrop perfectly black when done correctly.

Though my mirror was not pristine, nor was my camera very high-tech, below are some photos of minerals taken with this technique. I found that this technique lends itself better to some minerals, while with others the flash seems to eliminate dimension. A better camera might do a better job. I invite everyone to try this technique and see if you can get some spectacular shots.

Also, be careful not to scratch the mirror.

[John S. White]

Turbo:

I am intrigued by the possibilities of this technique but I wonder if you might elaborate on what you mean by a "featureless reflection of the ceiling above." Can you illustrate your set-up?

[Turbo]

What I mean by featureless reflection of the ceiling is that from the view of the camera there must be no object reflecting back from the mirror into the camera lens such as a light fixture, fan vent, etc. From the perspective of the camera what is reflecting back from the mirror must be plain, flat, and consistent in color like a white ceiling, so that when the flash renders it dark, it is consistently dark.

This method makes it so that a very high percentage of light coming back to the camera is from the mineral and it's reflection, not the background.

I'll post a panned out photo of the setup when I get a chance to take one.

[John S. White]

My first attempt and I must say that I am very pleased, even with a cheap camera.

This is one of my favorite specimens, it is a drusy quartz encrusted scalenohedral calcite from the Fuzichong mine, Guandong, China. It measures 9 cm from tip to tip.

Thanks for the suggestion. Keeping dust off of the mirror is a big challenge.

[Turbo]